Elise's Misadventures in Underland
by Silvia Grace
Summary: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland get a Gothic twist as a madman turns fiction into reality. The Earl and his Butler investigate a kidnapping that leads them down the manhole and through the underbelly of London's Underground.
1. Down the Rabbit-Hole

**I. Down the Rabbit-Hole**

" _... and she had never forgotten that, if you drink from a bottle marked 'poison,'_

 _it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later."_

It was the dead of night but all of London was wide awake. Most gathered on street corners and whispered to each other, standing on their toes to see over the dozens of heads. They were looking and pointing at a manhole, flagrantly thrown open and stinking. Some were bold enough to steal closer to the scene of the crime, though the lawmen on duty made sure they kept their distances. Only two that emerged from the crowd were allowed near. A dark pair, a man and a boy, looking terribly comfortable with the fact that they strolled a crime scene at midnight. Ciel and Sebastian approached as they usually did, casually, with their eyes looking ahead. Lord Randall awaited them, too absorbed in the matter to have time for his disdain of the Watchdog and his Butler.

"What happened here?" asked the Earl.

"Kidnapping," Randall answered. "About time, too. The city was due for one. Morbid though it may sound, it's true."

"So this isn't part of some larger trend?" Ciel said.

Randall shook his head. "There may be more down the line, but as of now this is the only one." He reached into the breast pocket of his coat and removed a small photograph of a young girl with rippling blonde hair and big blue eyes. "Elise-Louise Carrollton," said Randall. "Ten years old this Friday past. She was seen walking with an older man of broad stature before she was poisoned by him and stolen down that manhole." He pointed to the passage.

"Who's witness to this?" asked Ciel.

"She." Randall gestured to a bony woman with mousy brown hair and an askew nightcap. She looked all about with frantic eyes and mumbled to herself. "I don't suggest speaking to her, though," he continued. "She's a little..."

"I can tell," said Ciel. "Was there anything found at the scene?" he went on.

"There was," Randall sighed. "A few too many things, if you ask me." He handed the items to the Earl.

"Too many things?" Sebastian repeated. "You don't suggest they were planted?"

"Too soon to speculate, but it is highly unusual for so many things to be left behind."

Ciel sorted through the clues: a scrap of white fur adhered to a leather lining, a pocket watch, and a cracked glass bottle with its label half torn off. He could see only the last three letters: K M E. There was the embossing of a company name on the bottle's front.

"Is this from a local doctor?" he asked.

"It is," Randall said. "He hasn't been contacted yet, but we'll be knocking on his door tomorrow morning."

"What could it be, do you think?"

"Laudanum, most definitely. Had the unfortunate pleasure of getting a lick," Randall squirmed slightly at the memory, "and there's no mistake. That purveyor is even known for carrying the purest tincture."

"If there's ever been a piece of good advice given to me," Ciel said, "it is to never drink from a bottle labelled poison." He exchanged the items in his hands and flipped open the pocket watch's cover. It was stuck at six o'clock. "Hmm, tea time," he said to himself.

"What was that?" Randall asked.

"Nothing." He snapped the cover closed. "So all of these things were found simply lying around the manhole?"

"You see now why I believe they may have been left purposely," said Randall. "They're just the type of things we would be looking for."

"It is very strange." Ciel handed the clues to Sebastian. "What do you think?" He meant, of course, for the Butler to note any scents he picked up on, but smelling something in front of Randall might've come off as a bit... odd. Sebastian brought the items close to his face, acting as though he were only eyeing them closely. After a moment he handed them back to Ciel and gave the boy a discreet nod. He got what he needed. Ciel returned the nod and looked back to Randall.

"Are there parents to alert?"

"There are, and they have been."

Ciel and Sebastian turned to where Randall was looking. A man and a woman, pale and dark at the same time like moths in the night, held each other tightly and wept.

"Have you spoken to them yet?" Ciel asked.

"I have," Randall said, "but I wasn't able to learn much from them. They're too distraught. I'm going to leave them be tonight, see if they're not more collected in the morning."

"Do you mind if we..." Ciel pointed to himself and the Butler.

There was a flash of frustration from Lord Randall. He wasn't so sure that _those two_ were the best to speak to parents living their worst nightmare, but there weren't any options available to him. They were going to have to try their luck sooner or later.

He sighed. "... Fine."

Ciel tipped his hat and set off with his Butler to the parents.

They still sobbed openly, both wrapped in blankets and clutching cups of untouched tea. The Earl and Butler approached as respectfully as they could.

"Excuse me," Ciel said. "I'm Earl Phantomhive. This is my butler, Sebastian. I know that you both are very scared, but I have to speak with you about your daughter."

For a moment, the husband and wife simply stared at him- or, not really _at_ him but rather _through_ him- as though he were a mist they were trying to navigate. Then the wife's eyes brightened with cognisance and her tears dropped softly.

"My daughter," she whispered. "She has the same blue eyes, the same fair hair. Oh Elise, my Elise..."

"Ma'am, I realise this is hard for you, but-"

The woman exploded into tears.

Ciel's patience, already thin, was getting thinner. "I really must-"

"Young Master." Sebastian took Ciel's arm and pulled him aside. "I don't think she'll be able to talk with you. You remind her too much of her daughter."

"Then how-"

"Allow me, my Lord," smiled the Butler.

He turned around to the parents but Ciel pulled him back.

"And what am _I_ supposed to do?" he demanded.

Sebastian looked past Ciel at Lord Randall. Ciel clicked his tongue and sulked off. The Butler rolled his eyes (would it kill the boy to _not_ be difficult for once?) and neared the parents again.

"Pardon me," he interrupted their crying.

Mrs Carrollton's head snapped up and she became very nervous. "Where did that little boy go?!"

"He's talking to someone else," the Butler said while raising his hand. "He is perfectly fine."

The woman calmed a bit. "Good," she said. "Children should be kept safe. I tried. I tried so hard-" She crumbled again and here her husband brought her close in the tightest embrace. Such shameless displays of human suffering.

Sebastian second-guessed his decision.

-}%{-

It gave Randall a little joy to see Phantomhive walking alone and looking disappointed.

"No luck?" he asked, trying to mask his satisfaction.

"She wouldn't speak to me," said Ciel. "Apparently I remind her of Elise."

"Not surprising," Randall said. "She isn't too much younger."

"Is that all that's known about her?" Ciel asked shortly. He was a touch impatient after having been denied by the parents. "Her age?"

"No," said Randall. "We know that she attends Nightingale Academy, a prestigious girl's school in the Sutton district, is well-liked among her peers and is excellent at both the viol and the piccolo."

"... That's it?"

"Well, we also know that this is not the first time she has gone missing."

Ciel was dumbstruck. "What?"

-}%{-

"She is a very curious child," Mr Carrollton explained, as he was slightly more together than his wife. "Oftentimes, she's found wandering our mansion's grounds in the wee hours of the morning or even as late as this. She also manages to get past the hounds and gates to explore the fields and forests. There were days when we wouldn't find her for hours."

"And where would she turn up?" asked Sebastian.

"Right back where she started, normally. I would even find her asleep in her bed like she had never left."

"She's a bit far from home this time, yes?"

Mr Carrollton nodded gravely. "Yes. She is."

"So it's safe to say that she did not wander off on her own."

-}%{-

"No," said Randall. "The witness says that the girl was taken by a man. That would seem true, as well. It would be physically impossible for a child to lift a manhole cover. It's a wonder that a grown man on his own even could."

"Have the sewers been checked?" asked the Earl.

"My men are doing so now. Not a very pleasant task, I'd wager."

Ciel scrunched his nose and looked to the manhole. "How could it be?" He could smell the foul odour from where he stood, some twenty feet off. Looking back to Randall he said, "Do the parents have any idea who could be responsible?"

-}%{-

The mother and father stared wide-eyed at Sebastian.

"What?" the father said at last.

"In the majority of cases children are kidnapped by someone they know," the Butler explained. "Most often it's a member of their family."

Mrs Carrollton cried harder than ever and her husband turned a plummy colour.

"What type of riff-raff do you suggest we come from?" he demanded of Sebastian.

"It's an unfortunate truth that every family tree has a few bad apples," the Butler said plainly.

"Well, I can assure you that it was no one in _either_ of our families!"

"Who was it then?"

Mr Carrollton's purple complexion deepened. "Isn't that what you lot should be finding out?"

"I could if you would cooperate," Sebastian said with practised patience. "You want to find her, of course."

"What kind of question is that?!"

"Not a question at all. It was a statement. Now then." The Butler cleared his throat. "Who in your family- or outside of it," he added shortly, "spent much time with your daughter?"

-}%{-

"Sebastian is good with uncomfortable questions like that," said Ciel.

"I would imagine," Randall muttered. "That butler of yours is strangely detached."

"He's a talented man." Ciel looked to the crazy woman in the nightcap. "What is the witness' name?"

Randall sighed. "Well. When I first spoke to her, she called herself Sophie. When talking to Abberline, she was Penny. One of my men told me she had given them the name Ramona. For all I know, she could be John now."

Ciel paused briefly before making his decision. He walked in the witness' direction.

"I wouldn't question her on your own, Phantomhive," Randall advised. "She is quite unstable."

Ciel turned back with a playful smile. "Are you looking out for me? Would you like to be my chaperone?"

Lord Randall reddened and mumbled before moving away. Ciel chuckled and continued towards the single witness.

The Nightcap Lady still muttered uncontrollably and looked about with crazed eyeballs. She was far more frightening up close but Ciel didn't want to back away from a challenge with the whole of the Yard watching. He pulled his chin up and stood proudly in front of her. At first she didn't notice him, but when she did her words poured forth like out of a floodgate.

"I saws it all, I did! She wi' 'er li-le 'ands and he wit 'is co-on hair and mad eyes. An' he grabs her, he does, after she gets limp and stupid from the stuff in the bo-le. She drank it all on 'er own, milord, like lemonade on a summer's day. And she falls to the ground, oh, I can still 'ear the thud in me ears even now, and he lifts 'er and pulls her underneath like a monster, that he did. I saws it all, milord, saws it wit me own eyes. Dinah's mind's not too bright, but 'er eyes is as big as the moon."

Ciel was stricken a second time. She had answered every question he had for her without him even asking.

"... Your name is Dinah, you said?" he asked after a moment.

"I like the name Dinah, sir."

"You saw the man take Elise into the sewers after poisoning her?"

"Aye."

"And you don't believe he forced it on her?"

"She drank it at the smallest suggestion, milord."

Ciel didn't want to jump ahead for there could have been coaxing ahead of time, but he filed the idea away in his brain.

"The two of them were alone?"

"That they were. No one else around but Dinah."

Ciel cocked his head. "What were you doing out so late?"

"Not out, sir. This is me home."

He looked at the street where she gestured and gathered that she was homeless.

"You said she drank the poison 'at the smallest suggestion.' Are you saying that they looked like they were familiar?"

Dinah rocked back and forth on her heels. "I swear I saws 'em 'olding 'ands like friends."

"And what did the man look like?"

"His hair was white, white, white and his eyes were piss yellow."

Ciel paused to digest this new information when suddenly a thought flashed behind his eyes like lightening. He shook his head a bit and started from the beginning.

"Let me get this straight," Ciel said with both hands raised and his eyes closed. "Your name is _Dinah._ The girl's name is _Elise._ She drank from a bottle labelled ' _poison_ ' and was taken by a man with _white_ hair and a _pocket watch,_ stopped at six o'clock, _down a hole._ "

"It's funny, isn't it?"

Ciel looked over his shoulder to see the Butler standing just behind him.

"Li-le children bein' stolen away isn't funny!" Dinah shouted.

"No, it isn't," said Ciel. He faced Sebastian and quietly said, "We'll talk about this later."

Dinah glowered dangerously. "He makes me angry."

Sebastian smiled and bowed, turning on his signature charm. "I did not mean to offend-"

Dinah, however, was not taken. "Why is he helpin' to find her?" She pointed at the Butler using the full length of her arm.

Sebastian straightened up. "I-"

"She'll be lost forever if it's you to go after her!" With every word Dinah's voice grew louder.

"We should leave," Ciel said as he began to back away.

Dinah advanced towards them with her claws bared. "You should have to take it back, Mr Tails," she hissed.

Ciel could feel the Butler flexing his muscles for a fight but it wasn't needed. Two of the Yard's lawmen had been watching Dinah closely and apprehended her at the first sign of violence. They grabbed her arms as she began to shriek and scratch. The Earl and Butler stole away to the sidelines to talk.

"What an unpleasant woman," Sebastian frowned.

"She was doing just fine until _you_ showed up," Ciel said.

"You must admit, it's a very strange sequence of events," said Sebastian. "I do believe I've heard the story before."

"So have I," said Ciel. "The question is, do you think they've noticed?" He meant the Yard.

The Butler looked to the officers who were still attempting to restrain the screaming witness. "Surely they would have said something if they did."

"I suppose," Ciel shrugged. "It would be a huge coincidence otherwise. But what does it matter?"

"If the kidnapper is staying true to the story, knowing how it goes will help to stay one step ahead of him," the Butler explained.

Ciel didn't disagree. "True. What about the parents? Anything worth sharing?" he said.

Sebastian rubbed his temples.

"I am not sure if it's because they're in shock or if I had offended them," he began, "but they told me nothing. Really the only interesting bit was the fact that the girl had gone missing before."

"Randall was telling me about that," Ciel said. "Maybe that man had been following her for a while."

Sebastian nodded. "Most likely. Kidnappers usually do keep tabs on the child's whereabouts. Makes it easier to snatch them up."

"And what about-" Ciel stopped mid-sentence as he noticed a young officer listening in while pretending to dust for fingerprints. Earl and Butler acted casually for a short while, checking fingernails and adjusting waistcoats until the young man gave up and shuffled away. Ciel looked up at Sebastian again. "And what about the evidence?" he continued. "Something interesting there?"

"I think so. The watch's time you already picked up on: the time of the infamous Mad Tea Party scene. The bottle did indeed contain laudanum, though I also detected a splash of absinthe and a hint of something even stronger."

"Stronger than laudanum _and_ absinthe?" Ciel said. "You don't think she was killed, do you?"

"I don't believe so, no. I did not smell death anywhere near. But I don't think that she was aware of what she was drinking."

"How do you guess that?"

"The amount was so trace, it was difficult even for me to make out."

"And the fur?" Ciel asked the question, but he already figured the answer.

Sebastian assumed he would have. His canines peaked over his bottom lip as he smiled. "Take a guess, my Lord."

Ciel sighed. "Rabbit?"

The Butler bowed his head.

"So what we've got here is a man turning fairy tale into fact?" Ciel said.

"It looks like it," Sebastian agreed. "And if everything goes his way, we've got to act fast. Otherwise..."

"... Otherwise what?"

"Well, unless this is all just a dream on a golden afternoon, it will be 'off with her head.'"


	2. The Pool of Tears

**And award for the longest break in history goes to-! I know what you're thinking. But, Silvia, you're never gone this long. What happened? So many things, ducklings, so many things. Much too long and boring of an explanation to get into here. Long story short- being a grown up is hard and it sucks. And of course once I was ready to share with everyone again, life had to throw another wrench in there to muck it all up. But here I am with another chapter in another story, literally and figuratively. I hope you haven't lost interest yet, because this one's going to be dark and cool and I'm very excited for you to read it. So then- shall we continue?**

* * *

 **II. The Pool of Tears**

" _... how cheerfully he seems to grin,_

 _how neatly spreads his claws_

 _and welcomes little fishies in_

 _with gently smiling jaws."_

It seemed best to them to start with what they knew, that being the name of the laudanum carrier: Bender & Stotch. It was a fairly new London apothecary, having sprung up in the heart of the city like a canker ten years before. Once had the Butler pushed past its glass doors to buy a tonic for the Young Master, but he preferred to avoid it altogether. It felt to him unclean, not the physical space so much as the atmosphere- a faint breath of danger like the lingering of a lady's perfume. And while that was not entirely unsuitable for Sebastian, it was not the type of place he would like a child to patron. Yet there the two were, amidst the old herbal remedies and new chemical concoctions. A crocodile statue sat by the entrance, solid gold, ruby eyes, its many pointed teeth carved from pearl. The lips that surrounded them spun into something like a smile. One would assume it was meant to welcome the customer, though it looked more like a feral warning to Ciel and his butler.

"I see you admiring my statue."

They turned sharply to the speaker. He had emerged from a backroom full of shadows. He was wearing a white coat, but Ciel could see shadow clung to him still. Like the store he captained, his person had an air of darkness that was hard to shake.

"Brought it back with me from my trip to the Orient this summer," he continued. He stood before Ciel and smiled down at him. His skin was loose with age but seemed to stretch uncomfortably across the bone, looking powdered and dry. "It was actually a gift from a Persian courtier. A most luxurious race, the Persians, don't you think?"

"I wouldn't know," Ciel's answer drifted a little. A nudge from Sebastian brought him back to attention. "Anyway. Good morning, Mr... Bender? Stotch?"

"Neither," the man smiled. "One was my brother, the other my uncle. Both deceased. I am Mr Laurenti." He put out his hand. "And you are?"

Ciel didn't accept the handshake at first as he had just had a bath that morning, but shook the offered hand as not to look rude. "Earl Phantomhive."

"Ah, yes. The man from the Yard told me you would be stopping by. What was his name?"

"Lord Randall?" said Ciel. "You spoke to him already?"

"That was it! Yes, I have. He was a patient enough fellow, though I wish he had left my product alone."

"What do you mean?" asked Ciel.

Mr Laurenti tilted his head. "Didn't you see the sign? I really must make it larger... No matter. I have been forbidden the sale of laudanum without a doctor's prescription."

Sebastian's eyes narrowed. "You don't seem too put out by that order."

The chemist waved both his hands. "Oh, no. Though it was my most popular curative, I have plenty of other things to sell." His words held a subtle relish, like the lapping of lips after gravy and steak.

"So you must know why we're here," Ciel said.

"Yes, I do," Laurenti sighed with a compassion that was almost convincing. "The missing girl, Elise. Such a sad story."

"What do you know about it?" Ciel asked.

"Only that a bottle of my laudanum was found where she was last seen."

"And do you know why that might be?"

Anyone else would have become somber, but Laurenti's smile never faltered. "No, I do not. I sell many bottles everyday. It isn't always in my knowledge how one decides to use it, as dismissive as that sounds."

"It does," said Ciel. "Sound very dismissive, I mean. Where were you that night?"

"I was working late, doing the books and counting inventory. I've already given my punch-out information to Lord Randall."

"Do you still have possession of your sales book?" Ciel asked.

"I do."

"I'd like to see a record of your laudanum sales."

Laurenti bowed. "Certainly, my Lord."

Ciel and Sebastian waited by the storefront as the chemist fetched his book. It was huge and heavy, and though it was thoroughly filled it looked brand new. He passed the book off to Ciel who then handed it to Sebastian as it was too large for him to comfortably page through.

"Is this everything?" asked the Butler.

"Only from the past three months," the chemist answered.

Sebastian continued to scan the pages as he said, "This book is very full for only three months."

Again, the feral smile returned. "I sell a lot of laudanum," said the chemist.

"Is it really so easy to buy?" Ciel asked.

Laurenti shrugged. "I'll sell to whoever can afford it."

Ciel never understood why the purchase of narcotics was so simple, no matter how "safe" the doctors said they were. After the varying levels of addiction he had seen, he found it a bit backwards that people like Lau (although despicable) had to hide under ground, while medicine men like this could openly pedal their poison, and make a pretty profit to boot. At least Lau was honest about the dangers of his drugs.

Sebastian continued to run his eye over the pages until he came across something strange.

"This Mr _White_ ," said the Butler, giving a knowing glance to Ciel, "he bought quite a lot of laudanum."

"That he did," Laurenti said with a customary bow of the head. "The poor man. I have never seen such a neurotic."

"Laudanum for neuroticism?" Ciel asked.

"It is the only thing that calms him."

"... Still," Ciel said after a look to the Butler, "I think we'll be visiting him anyway. This is a current address, yes?"

"Yes, sir, it is."

Sebastian took a moment to write down Mr White's address in his pocketbook, then passed the record back to Laurenti. The chemist accepted the book cordially.

"Now about the girl herself," said Ciel. "Do you know anything about her?"

Ciel figured out then what it was about Laurenti's grin that unsettled him so- his teeth. They were too large for his mouth, too uniform in size and almost glowing in the dark of his shop. Ciel wondered if the same craftsman who carved the croc's teeth did the same for the chemist, as they could not have been his natural set.

" _About_ her?" he asked. "No. But I have spoken to her before."

The Earl and Butler started.

"You've spoken to her?" asked Ciel.

"Yes," answered the chemist. "It would always happen the same way. She would dance around outside of my shop. I could tell she wanted to come inside because she would look in the windows every few moments. Eventually she'd come in and ask me questions about my medicines. About the laudanum in particular."

"And did you answer her?" Sebastian asked.

The chemist paused and looked straight at the Butler. His smile came full. "Yes, of course."

"Were not her parents concerned about her knowing those things?" Ciel asked.

"Her parents were almost never there," Laurenti said. "Elise would come in alone. Sometimes they would come in after her, but she has been in here completely by herself on more than one occasion."

"Interesting," Ciel mumbled. "And what kind of questions would she ask?"

"What is it used for? Is it dangerous? How much is needed to kill you?" The chemist still wore the same smile. Ciel shivered. He did not like the conversation at all. "It was very important, she said, to know if you could die from it."

"How many times had she been in here alone?" Sebastian asked.

The chemist lightly shrugged. "At least a dozen, if not more." He sighed again. "She's such a pretty little girl. I hope she isn't hurt too badly."

"Thank you for your help, Mr Laurenti," Ciel said abruptly. "We'll be back if we have more questions. Good day." With that, he turned towards the entrance (that he never strayed far from) and left the shop.

Sebastian joined him in the sun a second later. "That was a prompt exit," he said.

"Couldn't stand to be near him anymore," said Ciel. "Besides, we have a lot of ground to cover and he can only help with one thing."

"True," the Butler agreed. "So now it's off to the parents?"

"Now it's off to the parents."

Their manor sat just outside of London as Ciel's did, but where Ciel's lay to the North theirs did to the South. The structure was done in dainty European style with pink lattice windows and a cherub fountain in front. The two were allowed inside by a butler with an accent and told to wait in the sitting room. Ciel was promptly brought a cup of tea and a small plate of coconut macaroons. He liked what he saw so far, though he wished the circumstances were different.

Sebastian chuckled. "Pastel mansion complete with pastry and a French butler."

Ciel sipped the tea. "Very picturesque, isn't it?"

"Yes. The last place you would expect to see a tragedy."

Ciel grew distant. "Which makes one bound to happen."

Sebastian looked down at him. "Meaning?"

But Ciel didn't have time to explain. They were joined by Elise's mother and father. The bags beneath their eyes were still prominent but their faces had a little more colour than the first night Ciel had seen them. He stood and put out his hand.

"Hello again," he said.

Mr Carrollton shook Ciel's hand. "Hello."

"I hope it's alright that we came by to talk to you," said Ciel. "If you're not ready-"

"No, it's fine," said Mr Carrollton. "Well, it isn't fine, but the sooner we speak with you, the sooner you can find our daughter."

Ciel nodded. "Exactly. Thank you."

With the exception of the Butler, they sat around the tea table.

"How can we help you?" asked Mr Carrollton.

"I thought we'd begin by asking what kind of household Elise came from," Ciel said. Immediately sensing that he may have sparked offence, he added, "We, of course, are not insinuating that she came from a broken home. We're only trying to understand some of her behaviour."

The mother and father looked at each other, each taking a breath to steady themselves. The mother pat her husband's arm and he nodded and clapped his hands together softly.

"Well, where do we begin?" he asked himself more than his guests. "She is an only child. And though we try not to spoil her, we do dote on her as parents do their darling baby. She's had music lessons, painting lessons, voice and polishing classes, horseback riding, even a few sports like tennis and croquet-"

"May I ask how you can afford her these things?" Ciel interrupted. "I'm curious because you have an impressive home but I don't know your name. You're not royalty, are you?"

"No, no," answered Mr Carrollton. "Far from it, in fact. My father was only a blacksmith, but an invention of his had investors from all over the country backing him financially."

"What was that?" asked Sebastian.

"The Indestructible Horseshoe," smiled Mr Carrollton. "Of course, it wasn't totally indestructible, but it lasted upwards of six months. Perfect for the farms people who needed them most."

"So Elise was never in want for anything," said Ciel.

"Nothing material, no," said the father. "But she craves adventure. All her lessons were meant to give her that experience, but I think she was looking for something less structured."

"So she took to wandering unfamiliar places alone," Ciel said.

The parents nodded sluggishly.

Ciel looked up to Sebastian, silently asking if the subject should be broached. The Butler nodded and Ciel proceeded.

"What do you know about the carrier of the laudanum?" he asked.

Mr Carrollton shrugged. "Nothing, really. We know the name, but neither of us had ever been there."

"Well," Ciel began, "Sebastian and I have been informed by the shopkeeper that Elise had come in many times alone."

The parents had immediate opposite reactions. Mrs Carrollton held her face in her hands and bent over her knees and Mr Carrollton became alert and inched forward in his seat.

"It was the shopkeeper then?" he asked.

"We'll keep an eye on him, but I honestly don't think so," Ciel said. "That night at the crime scene, I was told by the witness that Elise looked very comfortable with her abductor. As Sebastian suggested to you, it's most likely someone you or she knows personally. Not a stranger. I know it's painful to think about, but if you know of any family or friends who use laudanum-"

"We'll let you know." Mr Carrollton abruptly finished the sentence as if hearing it to the end would be too much. He sighed and pinched the place between his eyes.

There was an awkward silence before Ciel pushed forward.

"I am most curious to learn about the times she went missing," he said. "Will you take us to where you'd find her?"

Mr and Mrs Carrllton took the Earl and his Butler on a walk through the woods to a large, lonely lake. It was completely still despite the breeze and dusty like an old looking glass. It gave Ciel shivers to be near it. It was deep, distant and blue. Not the place where a child should play, alone or otherwise.

"Many times we'd find her here." Mr Carrollton's voice was hollow sounding on the icy wind. "She loves this lake, though we wouldn't allow her to come here on her own, for obvious reasons. But she would always find her way around our restrictions."

Ciel took the scene in briefly and said, "Sebastian."

The Butler nodded and started to snoop.

"You might be disappointed with what you find," said Mr Carrollton, "or, rather, what you don't. The Yard has already swept it clean this morning."

"My butler and I possess a different skill set than the Yard," Ciel explained. "What they miss may be entirely obvious to us."

"And vice versa?" the father smiled.

"No."

"Oh."

"So Elise would always wonder off by herself," Ciel continued. "She didn't have any playmates?"

"Strangely, no. She gets on with her peers just fine, but she has never befriended any of them. At least not intimately enough to invite them to our home. It's almost like she didn't want-"

Suddenly the parents' faces twisted with a touch a disgust. Ciel turned around to see what they were looking at. The Butler was on all fours and burying into the ground with his hands like a dog.

Ciel touched his fingertips to his head. "Sebastian. What the _hell_ are you doing?"

"There is something very interesting hiding in the dirt," he answered. "I want to bring it out."

"I suppose asking for a shovel would have been too strange," Ciel said.

Sebastian paused to smile at the Master. "I didn't want to interrupt your conversation."

The party of three continued to watch until the Butler finally pulled something from the mud. What with the disgusting display, Ciel had hoped it would be something vital like a weapon, but instead it was-!

"A piece of cake," Ciel flatly said.

"Ah, yes." Sebastian stood from the ground with muddy knees. "Currant cake, specifically."

"And this is important?" asked the father.

"It may be, it may not be. Does Elise enjoy sweets?"

Mother and father looked at each other, perplexed.

"Er... yes," said the missus, speaking for the first time. "Monstrous sweet tooth, she has."

The Butler held the cake higher. "Then this little morsel may have been another tool to allure her."

" _Allure_ her?" the father said. "You're not saying she came out here to meet someone?"

"It's possible,"said Sebastian. "We had better hand this in to the Yard. But you say there is another place where she would pass the time?"

Ciel could see that the parents were nervous to take them anywhere else (as they should be), but cooperated anyway. That time it was to a beautiful garden right on the mansion grounds, filled with lilies and soft English lavender, roses, roses and more roses. Roses of every colour and fragrance: honey sweet, melon ripe, cherry tart. A mouthwatering, sensuous place.

"It's so pretty," said Ciel. "Take care not to dig up the daisies," he called back to Sebastian.

"This was her next favourite spot," said the father. "She would lie out here for hours, singing to herself, in a world of her own."

Though he wasn't digging anymore, Sebastian had continued to comb through the flowers, and here he interrupted Mr Carrollton. "You said earlier that your daughter didn't have any playmates."

"Yes."

"Then to whom does this belong?" The Butler pulled a white fur trimmed glove from the thorns of a red rose bush.

"It might be mine," the father said.

"You think?" asked Sebastian. He observed the glove closer. "It looks a bit too large for you."

Indeed, Mr Carrollton's hands were willowy and long, and the glove had thick fingers that had stretched to accommodate muscle.

"Then it was a party guest perhaps," the father went on, becoming flustered with the Butler as he had the night before. "But I can assure you that our Elise doesn't spend idle time around adults."

Ciel and Sebastian looked at each other and silently agreed to let it go- for the moment.

The Butler smiled and tucked the glove away into his coat. "We'll be taking it along anyway," he said.

"Of course," father quickly said. "Anything else we can help you with?"

"Yes," said Ciel. "One more very important thing."

The four of them stood in Elise's bedroom, Ciel rifling through her bookcase. After knocking most every book onto the floor he huffed.

"Drat." He dropped one more book by his feet. "Not here." He turned and knelt to gut out a chest that sat at the foot of her bed. "Damn. Not here, either." He stood and walked to her nightstand and pulled out every little white wicker drawer. "Nowhere."

Mr Carrollton interrupted the boy's scavenge. "Are you looking for something in particular?"

"I am." With that, Ciel began to rip the pillows and sheets from Elise's bed.

Mrs Carrollton yelped and her husband shouted, "Excuse me, but what are you doing?"

Ciel said nothing but threw more billowy pink things into the air.

"If you please, my Lord," said Mr Carrollton while catching said pink things, "I should like you to stop. You understand, of course, why I don't want a _boy_ near my daughter's _bed_."

Finally, Ciel shoved the mattress onto the floor.

Mr Carrollton's anger was close to overflowing. "I said-" But he stopped mid sentence as Ciel pulled out a tattered old book. _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ was printed on the cover. The parents were confused. "That's what you tore this place apart for?" asked the father.

"Yes," said Ciel. He flipped through the pages, words and phrases jumping out at him as they had never before, now with a dark new significance. "I have to ask you," he continued. "Have you noticed any strange parallels between your daughter's kidnapping and this book?"

The mother shook her head and kept it low, the father's mouth stayed parted for a bit.

"To be honest, we're not very familiar with the story," he said. "But I don't think that matters. Surely this isn't so ridiculous."

"Oh, it's far from being ridiculous," said Ciel. "It's perfectly mad. But this story might save her life." He gave the book to the Butler and they both began to see themselves out.

"Is that all?" asked Mr Carrollton, stopping them. "Care to explain yourselves?"

"There isn't much to explain," Ciel said. "Except that maybe your daughter does have a playmate. One she purposely didn't tell you about. Most likely because she never thought their reenactment would become so serious." There was a pause. "We will find your daughter, don't you worry. In the meantime, I suggest you become well versed with this book. We might call on you for help with some... unorthodox problem solving."

The Earl and Butler then left the parents with more questions than they had the night before, but hopefully with a strange comfort that the two would do whatever it took to find their little girl.


End file.
